Counter



Nov. 24l 1925. 1,562,944

J. L. DAVIDSON COUNTER Filed Dec. 2l. 1921 Sheets-Sheet 1 INI/E Tok M65 Zarb'dsoN/bJ-I fm @Eind A TTORNEY.

Nov. 24, 1925. 1,562,944

J. L. DAVIDSON COUNTER Filed Dec. 2l. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR, m .par/draw;

ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 24, 1925.

PT OFFIC E? JAMES L.DAV\IDSN, OE .LOS ANGELES,CAL1FORNIA COUNTER.. t

Application filed December 21', 1921*;4 Serial Noa'523,9951

To all fr/0m 'it' may concern.'

Be it known that I, 'JAMES LJDA-VIDSON, a citizen of the: United States', residing at Los Angeles., in the county of 'Los' Angeles and Stateof California. haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Counters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to counters, and particularly tor a disappearingcountertop; The i invention has 'for an object the provision of a device of'this character which is economical in` the :useof space, Vand .which is simple and inexpensive in''construction,` taken in conjunction-'with utility, lrdurabil` ity and kgenerali eiilciency and servi'ceability'.

Inipracticingthe invention, providega counter. `topU having a part' j/forin'ed` 44wholly or inpart-ofunit slabs inter-connected, togethen andl which slabs maybe moved so as to leave anopen space inthe counter. The' space immediately `below the` unit slabsmay, be utilized for various purposes, such-as for an adding machine, type-writer orthe like, and a device of this character will limme;i4 diately .be seenr'o bea space-saver, inthatit leaves the l.top yof thel counter freefonother purposes than forI holding v adding machines, or thev liliea -A device -ofitlischaracter is particularly y usefullinjfbanlsy where lspace f atfa premium, `in that the addingk machine may .bef shoved beneath the counter, and, when. it -is desired .tof use the ',same it `is unnecessary -tomove the machineqint'o ythe room, but bysimply: moving the top,V of the counter out of position the adding machine orother device'is readily `accessible.I4

With the above vand other obj ects View, the inventionconsists inthe novelandiise# ful provision, formation, .constructiomconi-x g, bination, association and. interrelation of parts, members and featuresfas illustrated=v in some of its embodiments in the vaccompanyingidrawings, described in thelfollowing. detailed vstatement `:zand finally" pointed out in the claims.,

In the drawings; g

Figure l is a fraginentaiygcross sectional side view of myiimproved counter;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary' cross," sectional detail View of anarrangem-ent for ,operating the slahmeinbers of `theltop-of -the counter to cause the same tof disappear;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary. crosssectional view of the counteixtop takenon the line i a part 14.

ofA F ig'uree, and' lookingin the direc- 55 Figure 5 is a; fragmentary cross sectional i view rof certain features offthe' counter top and'itsassociated parts, the said view`beingtakenr en the vline 5 5 of Figure and# looking in ltlre directionl of the appended arrows; and l Figure@ is a front elevationsofcertainz detailsVVA of construction ofi'the-improved i counter top, tlie-parts beingbrolren' away and shown in'section. v

Corresponding'parts in all thel figures are designated byl the same, reference characters.H

Referring with .particulari-tyto thedraw-y ings, A includes the improvedcounter infits entirety, of which al is the counter top and L a back wall, and c and'gfZ' other parts of the lcounter top, .all of whichfeleinentsmay be used in practicingone embodiment of the invention. The counter top; a may bei associated with the elementsgc andd if desired, or the elements c and d: may be non-existent.;

Assuming, however, that. ythedevicegis. utilized accordingto theV showing, the" counter topsy 0 and al which lare non-'inovable-,- may i ,fbe' said to be of.theconstructionordinarily employedv at the present timegfand*vv the parts 1f ,c and Z may carry transverselyextending; members l, which are likewise joined as a-t 2 tothe back member Z1. Likewisejoined` theniembersl as bygineans of biacliets't.

.-withthe members l andthe back b are dou-y i -ble L members 3 g' saidv members being held to V5 and 6. The top-a bridges the gap between-4 the members c` and d, as shownL in Figures,

and the top. a may be made up of a pluralityy of plates 7, each of which carries some filler material, as. S, iii the. embodiment shown.

Each plate 7 is united. by means ofA hinges 9,

and said hinges carry shafts-10, t-he` endsV of which shaftsfare received in longitudinally grooved. guide-way members l1, depending".

from andcarried by the members c andfd. The grooved portions of the members 11 are arranged` to communicate with the members 5 and. The'meinber 5 is curved as` at 12 and joinswith' the member ll; The members 6 are each formed with a head 13 and `lilacliV part le has its upper. surfacein alignment with thebottom-'of the,H

grooves in the member 11, with the top surface of the head portion 13V downwardly directed with respect to the top of the part 14.

It is intended that this top lshall assume either a position such as illustrated in Figure 1, or that the top may be moved from said position; in other words, made to disappear. It is also intended that when the top is drawn from its disappearing position it will automatically assume the position shown in Figure 1 without any particular effort on the part of its operator. To accomplish this result o-ne of the shafts interposed between certain of the unit slabs 7 as at 15 may carry coil springs 16, the ends of which maintain the adjacent slabs 7 at the point 15 in end-to-end relation. To lower or remove the top a from the position shown in Figure 1 the top t would first be drawn outwardly so that the shaft 10 shown at 17 and carried by clips 17, would move a sufficient distance so the ends thereof might be directed between the head 13 and the part 12 of the member 5, whereupon the slabs would be 'directed downwardly with the ends of the shafts received between the members 5 and 6. This would leave a gap between the members c and CZ and allow a person to gain access to some machine or instrument such as shown at e. Moving the top a by grasping the angularly directed extremity 18, until the extremity reaches the position illustrated at f in dotted lines, would allow the last shaft 10 shown at 17 to slip from between the head 13 and the part 12 of the member 5, and the spring action existing between certain of the slabs 7 would swing the last slab 7 upwardly so that an inward push upon the end 18 would cause the shaft 10 shown at 17 to ride upon a surface, as 19, of the head 18, and from thence the said shaft would be `directed to the top of the member 14, at which time all of the slabs would be in alignment.

In Figure 2 I'have shown a slight modification, which consists in dispensing with the springs 16 and substituting in their stead a weighted cord member 20 joined at an end Q1 of the last slab. The cord passes over a shea-ve or pulley 23 carried by the part 14, and a weight 22 connected with the cord at all times exerts an upward pull on the last slabT, so that the result accomplished is the same as by the spring 16.

Various refinements of detail may be resorted to, and it is only intended that the drawings show one embodiment of the invention, and how it may be carried into practice.

lt is obvious many changes and variations and modifications may be made in departure from the particular description and showing of the accon'ipanying drawings, in

adapting the invention to `varying conditions and requirements of use and serv1ce,

without departing fromthe true spirit of the invention.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A store counter comprising in combination, fixed counter portions and an intermediate disappearing counter section, and intersecting communicating horizontal and upright guideways, the horizontal guideway of which extends across the upright guideprising means forming an upright guidei way and a horizontal guideway communieating with each other, and said horizontal guideway extending to opposite sides of the plane of the upright guideway, a shiftable top portion comprising a plurality of pivotally connected sections having means engaging in said guideways whereby said sections may be moved from the upright Guideway into the horizontal guideway and then be shifted rearwardly across the upright guideway to provide a full width top portion.

3. A store counter unit adapted to assume either a horizontal position or a position at an angle to the horizontal, said unit comprising means forming an upright guideway and a horizontal guideway communicating with each other, said horizontal guideway extending to opposite sides to the plane of the upright guideway, and means arranged at the junction of said upright and horizontal guideways for providing a top directing part-and also providing an offset continuation of said horizontal guideway, and a sectional top including slab members and rods pivotally connecting the slabs, said rods adapted to travel in said guideways, whereby said sections may be moved from the upright guideway into the horizontal guideway and then be shifted rearwardly across the upright lguideway to provide a full width top portion.

4. A store counter comprising relatively fixed top portions and an intermediate disappearing top portion, said disappearing top portion comprising a plurality of hingedly connected slab members, a guideway formed in the plane of the fixed top members and extending the full width thereof, and another guideway disposed at an angle to said first named guideway and communieating with the latter between the ends thereof, means at the junction of said guideways for guiding the slidable top section into the end of said horizontal guideway opposite to the direction of major movement of the sliding top, and nieans for automatically lifting' the rear slab inexnber whereby its guide engaging portion is lifted out of the upright gnideway and into the horizontal guideway, whereby said sections may be lnoved from the upright guideway into the horizontal guideway and then be shifted rearwardly across the upright gnideway to provide a full width top portion.

5. A store counter comprising relatively fixed top portions and an intermediate disappearing top portion, said disappearing top portion comprising a plurality of hingedly connected slab inelnbers, means in the plane of the fixed top sections forming a guideway coextensive with the width thereof, guide forming ineans disposed at an angle to said horizontal guideway and coni- Inunieating therewith between the ends thereof, and a deflector located at the junotion of said guideways and adapted to direct one edge portion of said disappearing top into the adjacent end of the horizontal guideway, whereby said sections n'iay be niovedfron'i the upright guideway into the horizontal gnideway and then be shifted rearwardly across the upright guideway to provide a full width top portion.

ln testimony whereof7 I have signed my naine to this specification.

JAMES L. DAVIDSON. 

